JAKARTA - Ukrainian and Russian negotiators are scheduled to resume a second round of peace talks mediated by the United States in Geneva, Switzerland on Wednesday, although both sides have given no sign that they are getting closer to ending the war that broke out in February 2022.
The talks are the latest diplomatic effort to halt the fighting that has killed hundreds of thousands of people, forced millions to flee, and devastated much of eastern and southern Ukraine.
The latest negotiations "were very tense," a source close to the Russian delegation told AFP, as reported by Al Arabiya (18/2)
"The negotiations lasted for six hours. Now it's over," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
For the talks in Geneva, the Kremlin has re-appointed hardline nationalist figure and former culture minister Vladimir Medinsky as the lead negotiator.
Meanwhile, the Secretary of National Security of Ukraine Rustem Umerov, who led the Kyiv side, said negotiations would continue on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said on Tuesday, Ukraine and Russia had agreed to continue negotiations after a third round of trilateral discussions in Geneva.
"Today, at the direction of President (Donald) Trump, the United States moderated a third set of trilateral discussions with Ukraine and Russia," he said on the social media company's X platform, quoted by Anadolu.
Witkoff thanked Switzerland for hosting the meeting.
"Both sides agreed to provide the latest information to their respective leaders and continue to strive to reach an agreement," he added.
His statement was made after the first day of US-mediated peace talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations ended without significant developments.
Witkof, along with President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, represented the US in the negotiations.
The United States has pushed for an end to the nearly four-year war, but has failed to broker a compromise between Moscow and Kyiv on the key territorial issue.
This Monday, President Trump pressured Ukraine to reach an agreement by saying they "should sit down at the negotiating table soon."
Before Geneva, the two countries held two rounds of negotiations in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), also with US mediation, without producing a breakthrough to end the war.
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